WARSAW: Poles vote in local elections on Sunday, selecting thousands of councillors and mayors who will play a key role in allocating billions in European Union funds and giving an early indication of their satisfaction with the government of Donald Tusk.

Tusk’s appointment as prime minister in December marked a turning point for the largest country in the EU’s east, drawing a line under eight years of nationalist rule that set Warsaw at odds with Western allies and putting the nation of 38 million people on a resolutely pro-European course.

The broad coalition which Tusk leads won a majority in October’s parliamentary elections on promises to roll back judicial reforms implemented by the previous government that critics said undermined the independence of the courts, while boosting the rights of women and minorities.